Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the United Nations, reaffirmed the need for Egypt to free hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah immediately and stated that his life is at grave risk.
“I urge the Egyptian government to immediately release Abd el-Fattah from prison and provide him with the necessary medical treatment,” Turk cautioned the activist in a report released Tuesday. “is in great danger.” “His dry hunger strike puts his life at acute risk.”
A well-known activist and blogger named Abd el-Fattah, who holds both British and Egyptian citizenship, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 on suspicion of taking part in an unauthorised gathering. In December 2021, he received a second five-year term after being re-arrested on allegations of disseminating fraudulent information.
In protest of his incarceration and living conditions, the 40-year-old has been on a hunger strike for 220 days.
In order to intensify his protest, Abd el-Fattah told his family that he would cease drinking water on Sunday. When she paid him a visit on Monday, his mother reported that she had not received the letter she usually gets from him.
Abd el-health Fattah’s can quickly worsen in the absence of water. The UN’s COP27 climate conference, which brings together world leaders every year to address global warming, is taking place this year in Egypt at the same time that his demonstration has intensified.
The official has personally appealed for Abd el-release Fattah to Egyptian officials, most immediately on Friday, according to Turk’s spokesman Ravina Shamdasani.
Shamdasani responded to a question about if there was a chance he may have already passed away due to the lack of communication by saying, “We are really concerned for his health and there is a lack of openness, as well, around his current condition.”
Turk stated that after the Egyptian Presidential Pardon Committee resumed its work in April “had resulted in numerous individuals being released”.
Though he considered “on the Egyptian authorities to fulfil their human rights obligations and immediately release all those arbitrarily detained, including those in pre-trial detention, as well as those unfairly convicted”.
“No one should be detained for exercising their basic human rights or defending those of others,” he added.
Sanaa Seif, Abd el-sister Fattah’s and a former political prisoner, is advocating for his liberation during the COP27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, where his captivity has become a hot topic.
Numerous speakers at COP27 have concluded their remarks with the phrase “you have not yet been defeated,” which is taken from his book, while activists at the conference have been active on Twitter with the hashtag #FreeAlaa.
Rights organisations claim that Abd el-Fattah is one of more than 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took office in 2013 and ousted previous President Mohamed Morsi.
When questioned about the situation, Sameh Shoukry, the president of COP27 and the Egyptian foreign ministry, told the press that Abd el-Fattah would receive medical attention from the prison. He was receiving meals, according to earlier statements from Egyptian officials.
